New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is hustling to win over left-wing critics who say the progressive leader cares too much about mainstream approval and is too cozy with senior Democrats.

• Ocasio-Cortez — who's weighing a White House run — recently took a harder line against funding for Israel, part of a push to appease those on the left who once saw her as Bernie Sanders 2.0 but now think she's more pragmatist than revolutionary.

Why it matters: For Ocasio-Cortez, the campaign isn't just strategic — it's personal.

• 😤 In private, Ocasio-Cortez has fumed about the criticism, believing it's unfair and counterproductive for the progressive movement.
• One liberal strategist told Axios that AOC has "lamented that the left was not there for her, that they are never pleased."

Between the lines: If Ocasio-Cortez's diplomacy is successful, it could be more difficult for any potential 2028 presidential candidate to run to her left — but moderate Democrats argue it also could make it tougher for her to win a general election.

• Despite her recent efforts, some loud voices on the left — including people who've worked closely with her — have gotten under her skin by continuing to question her progressive bona fides.

🔎 Zoom in: In recent weeks, Ocasio-Cortez has tried to repair her relationship with Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

• Many members of the group opposed her support for giving Israel defensive weapons, including the Iron Dome missile system, during the war in Gaza — which she has called a "genocide."
• In July 2024, national DSA leaders withdrew their endorsement of her for the elections that year, arguing that she'd conflated "anti-Zionism with antisemitism and condemned boycotting Zionist institutions," which the group considered a "deep betrayal."

🚫 In a virtual DSA forum last month with New York City members, AOC — who's also considering a bid for U.S. Senate in 2028 — changed her position on Israel by committing to vote against any U.S. funding to that nation, including for defensive weapons, City and State New York first reported.

• During the forum, she said her record on Israel had been distorted, which "does not benefit us as a movement."

Her moves have satisfied some of her liberal critics.

• Many DSA members at the forum voiced approval of her shift. Daniel Denvir, host of the socialist podcast "The Dig," told Axios: "This has been a master stroke in repairing the relationship with the left — a belated master stroke, but still a master stroke."
• Last week, the DSA chapter in New York City overwhelmingly voted to endorse Ocasio-Cortez for reelection — but notably, more than 500 members voted against that.

Ocasio-Cortez's focus on the New York City chapter could signal that she's more interested in a 2028 Senate bid than president.

• A spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez declined to comment.

🤔 The intrigue: AOC also has had a fraught relationship with some progressives who helped launch her political career.

• Her first chief of staff, Saikat Chakrabarti, co-founded Justice Democrats, a group that helped Ocasio-Cortez with her insurgent House campaign in 2018.
• Chakrabarti is running for Congress in former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's district in San Francisco, but AOC pointedly hasn't endorsed him in the June 2 primary.

Read more.

— Alex Thompson, Holly Otterbein

🤐 NEW ORLEANS — Democratic National Committee chair Ken Martin is quietly trying to quash criticism over his decision to hide the party's "autopsy" of what went wrong in the 2024 election, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Nearly four months after DNC officials announced they planned to keep the autopsy private because they wanted to focus on winning the 2026 midterms, they're still trying to contain the fallout from inside and outside the party.

• A DNC member told us Martin called him directly after he expressed support for releasing the still-secret report.
• Martin also has internally discussed releasing a short summary of the report's findings but has been unclear on the timing, according to two sources familiar with the conversations.
• It's unclear whether such a summary would differ from the limited takeaways the DNC released in December, which included recommendations to modernize the party's infrastructure and engage with new media.

😡 Zoom in: At the DNC's meeting here last week, a few people stood and yelled at Martin, calling on him to make the full report public.

• Outside the hotel where the DNC gathered, a progressive group placed a mobile billboard that read, "RELEASE THE AUTOPSY."

Vinod Thomas, a DNC member from North Carolina, said Martin reached out to him shortly before last week's meeting and explained why he's keeping the report under wraps.

• Thomas previously had expressed concern to other DNC members about the autopsy.
• "I have a lot of respect for Ken," Thomas said. But "I have to respectfully disagree with him on this issue."
• "Transparency is a key thing that we as Democrats fight for," he added. "A lot of the Democrats back in North Carolina who put me on the DNC told me they want this thing released."
• Some other DNC members told us at last week's meeting that they believe Martin made the wrong call in keeping the report private and have likewise fielded complaints about it from Democrats.

✨ The other side: Asked for comment, a DNC spokesperson pointed to Martin's previous remarks about why he withheld the report, in which he said his "North Star" was winning elections.

• Some insiders agree with DNC leaders that the autopsy shouldn't be released because doing so could lead to unnecessary party infighting.
• "It was time for Democrats to move forward and focus on taking back power," longtime Democratic strategist and DNC member Maria Cardona said.

Read more.

— Holly Otterbein

A look at what potential 2028 Democratic presidential contenders are up to:

• Kamala Harris got an enthusiastic welcome at Al Sharpton's National Action Network Convention, where the former VP again teased she "might" run for president. "I know what the job is, and I know what it requires," she said. Sharpton at one point had to hush the crowd, saying "This is a convention, not a revival."
• Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, in Iowa, told the Des Moines Register she might consider running for president after the midterms. At a town hall in Cincinnati, she told a questioner: "Saying Jewish donors are somehow the same as 'pro-Israel lobby,' I got a problem with that — and not just as an elected official, as a Jew." She also participated in a focus group in Iowa hosted by Majority Democrats.
• Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is test-driving a message in interviews with variations of: Tough times require tough leaders. Emanuel also previewed a potential bipartisan promise on the "Hacks on Tap" podcast: "I think a president of the United States can set a tone. I really mean this: On social policy, don't send anything to my desk that's not bipartisan."
• Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear will headline the 14th annual Humphrey-Mondale Dinner on June 5 in Minneapolis. He'll also be the speaker and Allyship Award honoree at the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund's National Brunch on April 19 in D.C.
• Former Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo talked China, AI and more on Bloomberg's "Odd Lots" podcast.
• California Rep. Ro Khanna said "the next Democratic president will never have the Israeli PM in the Situation Room" after the New York Times reported about the presentation that Israel's government made to Trump encouraging him to attack Iran.
• Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen will speak at a Patriotic Millionaires event Tuesday in D.C., which is billed as "How We Win, Tax the Rich, and Save the World."
• Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is pushing back against the conservative ownership of the Baltimore Sun. "It's actually a very sad day because the Baltimore Sun used to be our paper of record. It's now become the paper of the right wing," he told MS Now's Jen Psaki.
• Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego rescinded his endorsement of Rep. Eric Swalwell for California governor amid allegations that Swalwell sexually assaulted a former staffer, which Swalwell denies. Gallego posted on X: "I regret having come to his defense on social media prior to knowing all the information."
• Meanwhile, a New York Times analysis found that Gallego uses the f-word a lot.
• Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, on the tech-friendly "All-In" podcast, said a wealth tax isn't on his agenda and boasted that he "cut taxes seven times in Pennsylvania."
• New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker talked about streamer Hasan Piker and tax cuts with Jon Lovett on "Pod Save America." Booker and Harris will headline the Michigan Democratic Women's Caucus Legacy Luncheon on Saturday in Detroit.
• Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg will host a town hall in Tulsa, Okla., on Saturday with Monroe Nichols, the city's first Black mayor.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom had a head-turning pet as a kid: a river otter named Potter.

🦶 Newsom says Potter would snuggle with him in bed and — brace yourself — nibble on the future governor's toes.

• "I'd get cozy with it,'" he told children while visiting their second-grade class in 2019.

In his recently released memoir, Newsom suggested that the otter was his father's idea.

• Newsom's dad, William, was a proud member of the Environmental Defense Fund. In fact, Newsom explained, "My father named me Gavin in honor of Gavin Maxwell, who wrote the literary masterpiece 'Ring of Bright Water,' about this remote house in coastal Scotland where he raised several wild otters as pets."

Newsom seems to love gabbing about his childhood pet.

• 🎤 On a recent episode of his podcast, the governor expressed surprise that no one had asked him about Potter on his book tour. He even posted on social media about a puppet he called Potter the Otter.
• But Newsom, a potential contender for president in 2028, does appear to realize that stories about having an exotic pet as a child likely won't win him voters.
• "You really wanna be relatable?" he joked on his podcast. "Talk about your otter!"

— Holly Otterbein